NAPIER, New Zealand (7 June 2006) -- In a letter sent to CDNN and the New Zealand Herald, former dolphin trainer turned anti-dolphin slave trade activist Richard O'Barry blasted New Zealand officials who want to capture more dolphins for the Napier Marineland amusement park. O'Barry's letter comes in the wake of reports published yesterday by CDNN, the NZ Herald and other news networks that as many as 80 dolphins died in captivity at the Hawke's Bay Marineland facility. The Dirty Little Secret at Hawke's Bay I have personally worked on both sides of the dolphin street: the first 10 years with the dolphin captivity industry, the past 30 against them. Working back in the 1960s for Miami Seaquarium, I captured and trained dolphins – including the five dolphins who played the role of Flipper in the popular American TV series of the same name. I have witnessed firsthand the struggling and suffering imposed on dolphins during the violent capture process and their subsequent lifelong confinement. I have also seen a great many captive-born dolphins die in these killing tanks. And I have also personally buried countless dolphins at Miami Seaquarium; so many, in fact, that we ran out of room to bury any more. When Cathy, the dolphin who played Flipper most of the time, died in my arms, I realized that capturing dolphins and training them to perform silly tricks was simply wrong. In yesterday's news story regarding the 80 dolphins from Napier Marineland who have died and been secretly buried over the years, Councilor Harry Lawson (who is petitioning to allow more dolphins to be captured for the facility) was quoted as saying, "My issue is not the morality of keeping dolphins in captivity, it's more about keeping this Hawke's Bay icon for years to come, rather than just destroying it". And, in a previous news story, Napier Marineland's director, Gary Macdonald, stated, "Political correctness" is preventing the importation of more captive dolphins to his facility. "It's really sad for New Zealand", he says, and "without the dolphins, we would struggle". It seems that these two business men are more worried about the struggle and destruction of a Hawke's Bay "icon" than the suffering and destruction of dolphins. I know that the captive dolphin program at Napier's Marineland and other captive facilities would never be able to tell the public the truth about the capture, captive breeding and training of dolphins. If they did, the paying public would revolt against it. In other words: They wouldn\'t buy a ticket. Dolphins have evolved over more than 50 millions years and have adapted perfectly to life in the oceans. They are free - ranging, social, intelligent, and sonic wild creatures, exhibiting evidence of self-awareness and a highly developed emotional sense. Captivity permanently separates them from the three most important aspects of their lives: Their pods, their world of sound, and their ability to swim freely. Confinement of dolphins does represent a form of education, but it's a form of bad education, in that it teaches millions of people that it is permissible to abuse nature. The dolphin captivity industry routinely makes the claim that captive dolphins are better off remaining in captivity for the rest of their lives, as they have lost their natural survival skills and no longer know how to live in the oceans. This claim is made with no empirical scientific evidence to substantiate it, and it presents one of the captivity industry's many double standards: Even though captivity has permanently destroyed the dolphins' abilities to survive in nature and made them helplessly dependant on people, we're supposed to believe that the captive dolphins are somehow still wild enough to" educate" the public about the true nature of dolphins! Some dolphins have been confined within the same barren walls of a concrete tank all their lives. They think the roof is the sky and have never experienced the simplest elements of nature, such as the natural rhythms of the sea, the sunshine, and the rain. They will never swim in a straight line for as long as they desire; nor will they ever use their speed, intelligence, sonar, and sense of cooperation to catch live fish. They are freaks created for our own amusement and have no social redeeming value. To call them educators or ambassadors is simply an obviously desperate attempt at sanitizing the exploitation of these animals. | | "Touch and Feed the Dolphins Tour: Daily at 9.00am, A guided tour of Marineland where you will actually touch and feed the dolphins. You also learn about all the other animals, and how they are cared for. Bookings essential." (Marineland promotion) There has been much debate about the longevity of captive dolphins compared with that of dolphins in the wild. Rather than getting into an argument with the dolphin captivity industry about the longevity of captive dolphins – thereby reducing the issue to being a question of how long a captive dolphin can be kept alive - One Voice has long ago taken this position: That the dolphin captivity issue is not about quantity of life, it\'s about quality of life; not about science, but ethics. I sincerely hope Councilor Harry Lawson and the manager of Marineland Napier will soon realize that it is not "political correctness" that will prevent their Hawke's Bay "icon" from acquiring more dolphins; it is, instead, human compassion & understanding for the fact that capturing or breeding dolphins in captivity and sentencing them to a monotonous, unnatural existence in an amusement park is simply wrong. It is also worthwhile remembering that the dolphin captivity issue is not merely an issue about dolphins. Our relationship with dolphins should be seen as a reference point in our relationship with nature. In other words: working toward abolishing the billion-dollar dolphin slave trade promotes respect for all creatures on Earth. Sincerely yours, Richard O\'Barry
Marine Mammal Specialist
One Voice-France, Miami Florida Office
Phone: 305-6684834
www.OneVoiceDolphinProject.com © Richard O'Barry, CDNN CDNN Related NewsBELIZE - Hugh Parkey dolphin park opens for business in BelizeSOLOMON ISLANDS - Dolphin slave trader Chris Porter shut down by new lawSOLOMON ISLANDS - Dolphin slave traders to sell dolphins to Bahamas?FLORIDA - Stop dolphin slave trade says 'Flipper' trainerFLORIDA - Tourists, cruise ship companies driving dolphin slave tradeBAHAMAS - Tourism minister lobbies for dolphin parkJAPAN - Activists want to educate Japanese fishers to stop killing dolphinsCANADA - Vancouver Aquarium official, Chris Porter, linked to dolphin slave tradeLA PAZ - Amusement park dolphins trapped in underwater hell as hurricane hitsST. LUCIA - Reward offered in Jane Tipson murder caseCANCUN - Activists demand release of dolphinsCANCUN - Dolphin captured in Solomons dies in Cancun amusement park |
